Uncovering Retail Trading in Bitcoin: The Impact of COVID-19 Stimulus Checks

• 成果类型: Article; Early Access
• 署名作者: Divakaruni, Anantha; Zimmerman, Peter
• 署名单位: University of Bergen; Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - Cleveland
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2023.4790
• 发表日期: 2023
• 关键词: Bitcoin; Covid-19; Retail trading; Stimulus checks

摘要

In April 2020, the U.S. government sent economic impact payments (EIPs) directly to households as part of its measures to address the COVID-19 pandemic. We characterize these stimulus checks as a wealth shock for households and examine their effect on retail trading in Bitcoin. We find a significant increase in Bitcoin buy trades of size $1,200, which is the modal EIP amount. We find similar increases in trading for other countries that paid out stimulus checks. We estimate that the EIPs have a significant impact on the U.S. dollar-Bitcoin trading pair, increasing buy volume by 3.8% and the price by 0.6%. We also find that demand for Bitcoin is highly price inelastic compared with the demand for stocks. We suggest the demographic characteristics that make people more resilient to the COVID19 economic shock-single, computer literate, and educated-are also characteristics of people who are more interested in Bitcoin.